TRAINING

Life skill management for adolescents is a very urgent need today, and all concerned have a great role to play by learning how to impart knowledge and guidance to their beloved youngsters. The knowledge gained can then be applied in various situations and needs related to adolescents. This could be to do with academics, relationships, with HIV/AIDS and STD prevention, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, or counselling and suicide prevention. Life skills management also includes environment education, consumer education and peace education. All of this is aimed at empowering people to take positive action to protect themselve, their teenagers and to promote health and positive social relationships. But before you start on all these, there are some basics which all of us should be having. We show to adults how to look at the world from a teens perspective. We should observe them for clues to what is making them anxious, scared, happy or proud.

It's a big confusing world for them and sometimes even simple things become frustrations. An adult should-

Listen and identify emotions.Take the time to listen to your child and understand what she is feeling. Help her identify feelings with words she can use like "angry," "hurt" or "frustrated." By talking about emotions early and often, you teach your kids how to handle feelings at home, at school and for the rest of their lives. It takes years to learn to understand and react well to feelings â€” especially strong feelings and changing moods.

Later is better than not at all.

Life is busy and not every parenting moment is perfect. In fact, if you respond to your child most of the time, you're doing great. If there isn't time to deal with strong emotions in the moment, don't hesitate to come back later in the day and say something like, "I didn't feel very good about how I treated you this morning. You seemed upset and I didn't take the time to ask you what was wrong." If you recognize a child's feelings, he knows you care.

Provide emotional first aid.You can reassure your kids in times of emotional crisis by telling them that you care for them no matter what they are feeling; that they are not alone; that you understand their feelings because you have felt that way too; and that it's okay to have the feelings they are having.

Help find solutions.When the crisis has passed, encourage your child to suggest ideas for solutions to the problem that triggered the feelings.Creativity has physical, intellectual and social dimensions. Learn what they mean for your child at various stages of development

Talk, and then talk some more.The more you talk, the better bonds you create and the more kids learn. Fortunately, life offers plenty of opportunities to connect and engage in rich

conversation. Weekends, dinner times and vacations should all be opportunities to connect with your teen. As the famous quote goes-